Happy Monday, ENers, and happy Burghley week! The leaves are starting to turn, the morning air has the faintest crisp note cutting through that latent warm air, the shelves in the supermarkets are packed to the gills with back-to-school supplies and slogans, and, back as always to herald in the eve of autumn is the world’s biggest CCI5*. And what a week we have ahead of us: there’s one of the event’s best-ever entry lists, even despite the Olympics this summer, a brilliant new course by Derek di Grazia, which we’ll be unpacking for you soon, and a weeklong forecast very nearly packed to the rafters with sunshine. Bliss!
We can’t wait to touch down on this holy ground, but in the meantime, we’ve got so much goodness to bring your way. A beefy form guide? Check. Some hugely committed team picks? Check. A course preview? Check. At-a-glance guides to the field? Check, check, check, baby! And then we’ll be diving wholeheartedly into the action from Wednesday, bringing you more inside intel than you can shake a stick at each and every day, and then, once it’s all wrapped up and we have our Burghley 2024 champion crowned, we won’t feel guilty at all about heading home for a duvet day to rewatch it all on Burghley TV, tucked up in a knitted blanket and eating pumpkin soup. There’s something about the first couple of weeks of autumn, and the weeks leading into it, that make me feel very Gilmore Girls, and so, by extension, Burghley is also our most Gilmore Girls event. Derek di Grazia? SUCH a Rory.
National Holiday: It’s Labor Day! This important holiday doesn’t just mark the beginning of the end of summer, it’s also a celebration of labor unions and all the hard work they’ve done to create safer, fairer, more equitable working environments. But we still have a lot of work to do, especially in the still-largely-unregulated equestrian industry. We recommend checking out super organisations such as the International Grooms Association, British Grooms Association, and the USEA Grooms Program to find out more about how industry workers can be better protected and represented.
US Weekend Action:
USEA American Eventing Championships: [Website] [Results] [Official Photographer]
Equestrians’ Institute H.T.: [Website] [Results]
Seneca Valley Pony Club H.T.: [Website] [Results]
Bucks County Horse Park H.T.: [Website] [Results]
Your Monday Reading List:
There are so many incredible stories coming out of the AECs from throughout the final leaderboards. One I loved? The tale of the plucky Hickory Lane Equestrian Team, who rallied together to regroup after a surprise tornado swept through their stables, tearing down their indoor arena in the process and destroying many of their jumps. Rather than being sidelined by the disaster, though, they got creative, riding in the fields and on the cross-country course, which, actually, probably did them the world of good – I’m a huge advocate for schooling on terrain, because it make it so natural to be surefooted when you’re then riding at speed across it. Meet the team in this lovely story and find out how they made it work, and how they got on in Kentucky.
Another great set of characters from the AECs here! Jocelyn, a rather magnificent Clydesdale cross, wasn’t ever even meant to go eventing, but a bit of happenstance led to her having her first outing, which then escalated into a run at the AECs in the Starter division. I was at the final-ever Defender Blair Castle International the other week and one of my favourite moments was watching the ridden Clydesdale class, so you better believe I’m hatching a plan to storm around a course on a ginormous feathered steed as soon as I possibly can, now. I’d take a catch-ride on Jocelyn if it was offered.
Is your stabled horse stressed out because of boredom? So many of us fill our horses’ stables with the essential comforts they need – plentiful water, hearty hard feeds and forage, fresh bedding – but neglect to provide enrichment, which is just as important. This interesting piece shares both the effects and causes of boredom, and how you can set your horse’s stall up to keep him occupied and engaged even when he has to be inside. It’s an effort that’s well worth making, and actually, creating enrichment opportunities is really good fun – and there’s a lot that can be learned from the zookeeping world here, too. A friend of mine used to be a groom and then became a zookeeper specialising in hoof stock, and some of the ideas she was able to bring to her animals’ enclosures were fascinating. Dive on in to the piece here.
Okay, so you know from scanning social media comments that you definitely don’t want your horse to be behind the vertical. But do you know why? The mechanics of how this common problem affects your horse’s body, and the incorrect emphasis it puts on various structures, is well worth being clued in on, because knowing about it will help you to counteract it and ride effectively and correctly. Then, you’ll find your horse becomes more uphill, more balanced, and more supple and connected, making flatwork a breeze — while also keeping him or her happy and comfortable. Win, win, win!
Morning Viewing:
The first ride on a young horse is a momentous milestone – here’s an insight into how it happens.
